Afterdark Tea Time
by Tastychainsaws
Summary: Right on the day before Halloween, the Light Music Club accidentally stay at school a little later than they mean to. They soon learn that locked doors and barred windows are going to be the least of their worries on this dark night.
1. Locked In

**AFTERDARK TEA TIME**

**A TastyChainsaws fanfiction. A short, fun horror story that may be a little much for some. Before anyone asks, yes, it is heavily inspired by the _Silent Hill _games, H.P. Lovecraft, and _Amnesia: The Dark Descent._**

**Best read at night. **

_"Have you run your fingers down the wall  
>And have you felt your neck skin crawl<br>When you're searching for the light?  
>Sometimes when you're scared<br>to take a look At the corner of the room  
>You've sensed that something's watching you<em>"

_~Fear of the Dark_, by _Iron Maiden_

**PART ONE LOCKED IN**

A chilly, windy October afternoon across Sakuragaoka prompted the five girls of the Light Music Club to stay late after school. Out the window of their clubroom, Hirasawa Yui, the lead guitarist and vocalist, dreamily gazed out the window at the trees blowing in the wind. Their leaves had forgone their summer green, and faded into a brilliant variety of yellows, browns, and reds. The little airhead found herself excited to walk home and crunch leaves beneath her feet like a little kid again. The sky was turning a purple and orange, stained with wispy clouds that drifted lazily along. The sun was beginning to set, and Yui found this afternoon to be exceedingly beautiful. It was the kind of afternoon that would inspire songs from the bassist, and Yui's partner in vocals, Akiyama Mio.

"Azu-nyan, isn't it really pretty outside?" She asked her friend, rhythm guitarist, and underclassman.

"It is." Nakano Azusa agreed, standing right behind her. "It's getting late though; Mugi-senpai probably won't be home until night at this rate."

"I'll be alright." Kotobuki Tsumugi commented. She was the keyboardist of the band, and if you managed to find this story on your own then the author probably shouldn't have to even introduce characters in such a manner. Azusa had been referring to Mugi's commute, which was by far the lengthiest of the five.

Ritsu was sitting down, flipping through some manga on the couch. Next to her was Mio, who was playing her bass unplugged while daydreaming into space. The drummer casually asked her, "Do you think I could stay at your place tonight? Satoshi is having a bunch of friends over tomorrow, and I'd rather just hang with you instead of listening to them be loud."

"It's a little short notice, but probably." Mio replied. "I think my parents would be okay with it."

"That reminds me." Ritsu put her manga down at sat up attentively. "Tomorrow is Halloween. Is anyone doing anything for that?"

Yui was the first to answer, "Ui and I are getting some candy in case any kids come by. Maybe we'll even watch a scary movie."

Ritsu chuckled to herself, "That's was Mio and I did last year. I got her to watch _Suicide Club_."

"I'm still angry about that!" Mio squeaked, covering her ears with her hands and shutting her eyes at the memories of that horrible, horrible film. After watching it, she had been afraid to go near the school roof, or even train platforms. Ritsu laughed at her reaction, even if the movie had bothered her a little too.

"I probably won't be doing anything." Azusa answered the original question.

"My parents are going to a party at my father's work. It's going to be really fancy and high class, I wish you guys could come, but it's invite only, and I can't invite anyone." Mugi sighed a sigh of loneliness.

"I hope you have fun, Mugi-chan!" Yui tried to cheer her up. She wasn't all too surprised that Mugi seemed down about not being able to bring them to that party. Mugi seemed like the kind of person who wanted to live her entire life with her friends by her side. Yui thought that was both endearing and cute. She then added, "I'll make sure to save you some Halloween candy."

Mugi smiled, and her entire face lit up. "I've never had Halloween candy!" She gasped.

Ritsu sighed, "Where are you from again?"

While they were talking, Azusa had been gathering her things. She had her school bag and guitar ready to go. Yui noticed this and asked, "You're leaving, Azu-nyan?"

Azusa nodded, "Yeah, my parents are going to start worrying if I'm not home soon. I'd text them, but I forgot my phone."

"Huh, what a coincidence, I forgot mine too today." Ritsu commented.

"Creepy, so did I." Mio shuttered.

Yui patted her shirt pocket, and then checked her school bags. She looked confused. "I could have sworn that I brought mine with me too. I must have forgotten like you three did."

Mugi slowly raised her hand. "I… forgot mine as well."

There was a silence between the five of them as they tried to comprehend this. What were the chances that they had each forgotten to bring their cell phones? Their phones were the social extensions of themselves, something that should have always been within arms reach under any circumstance. Something so essential in that day and age from them, and they had all neglected to bring theirs on the same day. They looked at each other with almost frightened expressions. However, in a matter of seconds they all began laughing at the sheer absurdity of this. They laughed until their sides hurt, and talking was impossible. Even Mio, the scaredy cat of the group, was unable to suppress the onslaught of nonconsensual giggling from within.

Eventually, like all good things, the laughing came a stop. Azusa was the first to say something, "Okay, okay, this is weird. I'd better get going now."

Yui grabbed her by the forearm before she could go, "Wait, I'm going to leave too. Let's walk out together."

"Okay, sure. Just don't take too long." Azusa replied.

Mio and Ritsu decided they'd go as well, with Mugi being quick to do the same. The former two decided that they would go to Ritsu's house first, where Ritsu would pack her things and Mio would call home and tell her family that she was staying over. Azusa was considering asking Yui if she could also stay over with her and Ui, but decided it was too short notice. Mugi, as always, was going to spend her day off alone.

As the five of them walked downstairs, the school was especially dim. Despite the lack of light, dust motes seemed more prevalent then normal, like they were trying to dominate all the unoccupied air of the school. It was silent, with the only sound being the ruffling of school bags, instrument cases, and the hollow sound of footsteps from them. Normally there should have been the buzz of distant machinery such as air conditioners or heaters (depending on the season). Even the drone of cars should have been heard in the distance.

Mio found herself latching onto Ritsu's arm. In a shaky voice, she whispered, "Ritsu… does the school feel sort of… spooky right now?"

A rather cruel idea found its way into Ritsu's mind as she chuckled, "It's because tomorrow is _All Hallows Eve_. It's spooky because the spirits and demons are getting ready to walk around the world tomorrow."

"_Don't say that!_" Mio shouted, and punched Ritsu straight on the head with as much force as arms conditioned by a sedentary lifestyle could muster. Ritsu yelp of pain, combined with Mio's shouting produced a haunting echo throughout the empty school. Mugi squeaked in surprised and grabbed onto Yui's shoulders. This in turned made Yui's jump and latch onto Azusa.

Azusa, who pretty much now had Mugi and Yui on top of her, was more annoyed than spooked. In a grumbling voice, she muttered. "Come on, my senpais shouldn't be jumping at shadows."

"I wasn't jumping at shadows; I was jumping at Mio-chan and Ricchan." Mugi corrected her, simply not getting it.

"S-Sorry…" Mio apologized, her face pale, and her hands shaking a bit. She looked genuinely terrified now. All of a sudden, none of them could blame her. The dimness of the school made everything look a dismal gray color, as opposed the oranges and browns it should have been. Without saying another word, they continued for the exit, each of their paces increased. Even Azusa, who considered herself too rational to be scared by silly things such as being alone, felt an unexplained sense of dread.

They reached the front doors of the school, and Ritsu wasted no time pushing on the bars to open it. There was a rattling noise as they shook, but did not open. They were locked.

"Are you kidding me?" She shouted. "We got locked in!"

"W-what?" Mio whimpered, feeling her knees turn to jelly.

Azusa scratched her head. "This shouldn't happen; I thought these were the kinds of doors that you could only lock form one side. My junior high had them, but always kept them locked because of predators. You'd have to knock, and then someone would always open them from inside, or they door would be propped open. Are you sure you're pushing hard enough?"

"I'm the drummer, and I'm pushing as hard as I can." Ritsu countered, just a little annoyed. She pretty much slammed herself into the front door with her shoulder. All it did was rattle some more, and give her a bruise on her shoulder. Ritsu growled, and kicked the door as hard as she could, "_Open already you bitch!_"

"Ricchan, language!" Yui mockingly scolded her. It was a desperate attempt to lift the mood.

Mugi placed a comforting hand on Mio's shoulder, and calmly suggested, "Why don't we try the other doors? I know there are at least three others. If those don't work, we can unlock the windows and try to climb out."

Yui looked over at the few windows in the front hall, and shook her head. "L-Look…"

The five of them noticed with some degree of surprise that all those windows had been covered on the outside by large metal storm shutters. They were the ones made of metal rings that allowed a little bit of a view outside. Such things were only implemented if a storm warning was issued. No such thing had been done.

"C-Check one of the classrooms then." Mugi quickly suggested. That would have been their direct destination, but Mio seemed rooted to the spot.

"Come on, Mio!" Ritsu gestured for her to follow. All Mio did was produce a low whimpering sound while staring at the ground. Ritsu flinched as she heard something drip in front of the black haired bassist. She stepped forward, "Mio, it' okay."

Mio raised her head, revealing that had a rather brutal nosebleed. Blood was slowly dripping down in thick dollops down to her chick. She was, of course, crying as well. Ritsu sucked air through her teeth and winced. "H-Hey, Mio's got a nose bleed, who has a tissue?"

"I do!" Mugi replied right away, prepared for any occasion. It only took a moment for her to retrieve a wad of tissue paper from her school bag. Ritsu took it and used it to help wipe and quell the blood coming from Mio's nose. Mio simply fearfully sobbed.

"Come on, we'll be out of here in a moment, it's okay." Ritsu gently cooed, and tried to bend Mio back a bit. "Here, face up while you walk, stops the blood from flowing. Shh, it's okay Mio…"

While trying to calm her down, Ritsu lead her and followed the others to the classroom marked _1-A_. Inside, the desks had been shifted to one side of the room in a massive cluster. The windows were barricaded with the same metal grating. On the whiteboard, which was completely blocked by desks, there was the remnant of a hangman game. A fully drawn stick figure was there, with x's for eyes that symbolized death. Below it, in basic Latin script was the incomplete phrase…

D O N T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ W A T E R

Azusa glanced at the whiteboard, shrugged it off as being weird, and then attempted to turn on the light to the room. Nothing happened; the power seemed to be dead. She groaned, "Okay, what is going on here? The power is out."

Detective Mugi was on the case. She looked around the room, and quickly decided, "This is a Halloween prank! Everyone here knows we stay late, and they decided to lock us in, cut the power, and are going to try and surprise us."

"They're doing a good job creating a spooky atmosphere." Azusa shuttered.

"Ui is going to be worried about me…" Yui said in a low voice.

Ritsu wasn't exactly happy. "This isn't funny, whoever is doing this! Mio is crying and got a nosebleed from being scared, so they better cut the act right away!"

Her shouting echoed throughout the empty school. They stood there silent, and the sun was beginning to set entirely. It wasn't entirely silent; they could now hear the clicking and creaking of the schools dated heater system throughout the entire building.

"D-Do we check any other rooms for an open window?" Azusa asked.

Mugi thought for a moment, trying to remain calm and reasonable. "Maybe we should look for a flashlight in the janitor's closet first. It's going to be dark soon."

Mio let out an audible whine at the mention of 'dark'.

"That's not a bad idea." Azusa nodded her head.

"We can always return it on Monday." Yui added.

Ritsu frowned for a moment. "Yeah, let's grab it so we're not wandering around in the dark."

For some reason, Mugi was the only one who knew where the janitor's closet was on the first floor. They followed her, and thankfully Mio's nosebleed had stopped. Ritsu discarded the bloody tissues, and held her close as they walked. She wondered what sort of things in Mio's childhood sparked this irrational fear of, well, everything. Whatever the case, she was there to comfort her friend to the black and bitter end if need be.

Mugi went turn the handle of the janitor's closet, and found it locked.

"Oh you've got to be kidding…" Ritsu groaned.

"Hold on…" Mugi grunted, grabbed onto the knob, and turned it with all her strength. There was a sound of metal snapping, and she was able to gracefully open the door after breaking the lock with arm strength alone. She sighed a sigh of relief. "Phew, that takes care of that. I'll pay for a new lock on Monday. One that can't be broken by someone like me."

"Mugi-chan is… incredible." Yui said in sheer stunned awe.

"This feels kind of wrong, breaking open doors and stuff…" Azusa muttered.

"Hey, do you feel like sleeping here overnight?" Ritsu asked.

"Yeah, you have a point, but I still don't like it." Azusa shuffled her feet a bit.

Mugi opened the door, peered inside and gasped in surprise.

"What is it?" Ritsu asked right away. Everyone was quickly over Mugi's shoulder, Mio excluded.

It was nothing. There was absolutely nothing in the closet. The mobile, bright yellow cleaning station was gone, as were, well, everything else. The only thing left was a splayed out hentai magazine. In the dark, Mugi could vague make out large, monstrous shapes on those pages doing unspeakable things to girls their age. She quickly backed out the room, closing the door, and blushing heavily.

"This is…" Azusa couldn't quite find the words.

"It's getting dark." Yui commented with a degree of worry in her voice. Mio began quietly sobbing again, burying her head into Ritsu's chest.

Ritsu held her best friend, and whispered, "This can't be real. None of this can be real. This is just too much to be some kind of unlucky coincidence; someone had to have staged this."

Mugi thought for a moment, then said, "Wait; there's a flashlight in the storage room in our clubroom! Let's go get it, and maybe get some tea to make us feel a bit better too."

"I like this plan." Yui chirped.

"I don't know about the tea, but we should get up there pretty quick." Azusa said.

"Let's do that then, and off we go." Ritsu began leading the way. She immediately ran into difficulty as Mio refused to do more than shuffle her feet along. "Mio come on; let's go a little quicker before the sun sets. You don't want to be here in the dark."

"But I'm scared…" She whimpered.

Mugi quickly stepped into fix this. "Here, let me take her."

Before anyone could object, the blonde keyboardist swept Mio off her feet and held her in her arms like a newly wed. Mio squeaked in surprise at first, but didn't object to having soft, kind Mugi holding her. She quickly wrapped her arms around Mugi and rested her head on her shoulder.

"T-That works." Ritsu blinked. She felt a tinge of jealousy that Mugi was the one taking care of Mio now. "Umm, Mugi, are you going to be able to haul her up two flights of stairs."

"With ease." Mugi smiled, confident in her strength.

In the waning remnants of light, the five of them returned the club room and were relived that they had at least another twenty minutes before the sun set entirely. Mugi set Mio down on the couch, and Ritsu was quick to sit with her. Yui, being Yui, went to arranging Mugi's best tea set on the table. Azusa said a few words of protest, but had to admit that some peach tea sounded _amazing_ right about then. Nobody noticed that the whiteboard's doodles had been completely erased. The sound of the heaters throughout the school was more noticeable now, like people rapping on windows from the outside on all floors of the building.

Mugi was busy rummaging through the walk-in closet, looking for that flashlight. It didn't take much time for her to find it, only a couple minutes before she spotted it sitting by itself on top of a box. She took it, and then returned to the room there. "Found the flashlight and oh, would you like me to make some tea, Yui-chan?"

"Yes please." Yui grinned, sheepishly.

"Well then…" Mugi set the flashlight down on the table, next to where her empty teacup sat. "…I'll do it for a kiss!"

She was obviously joking, but that didn't stop Yui from standing up, walking over, and planting a wet little kiss on Mugi's cheek. The blonde keyboardist went red, and she felt lighter than air.

"Thank you, Mugi-chan." Yui said with a smile, and went to sit down. Azusa watched them, and couldn't help smile too. They were doing wonders to lift the mood. With a bit of coaxing, Ritsu convinced Mio to have tea with them real quick before they went back to searching for an exit. Mugi felt like she was walking on clouds as she filled the teapot with water from their clubroom's sink.

She was too blissfully happy about her kiss on the cheek to notice that the water was a sickly yellow color as it filled the teapot. Even if she had been more alert, it was doubtful whether or not she would have been able to notice in the dim light. Furthermore, she certainly didn't notice the tiny little wormlike creature come out with the water. It was miniscule, barely the length of her thumbnail, and had a chitinous body that would protect it from the heat of the water it was about to be boiled in.

Tea was boiled, served, and a small little parasite, a creature of nightmares, lurked in the tea cup of one of those five girls.

"Let's drink up quickly. No time for sugar and snacks." Azusa said, prompting Mugi to forgo those luxuries and sit down. It was fully dark now, with the light of the moon outside illuminating the club room just enough for them to see. The windows on the third floor were unlocked, but none of them felt very confident about the ten meter drop onto concrete.

The tea was surprisingly delicious and refreshing. The fear and anxiety towards the dark that these five girls had suddenly been relived just a tiny bit. Having the flashlight on their side made them feel a lot better too. Mio had finished her sniffling as well, which was a great thing in Ritsu's eyes.

"At least we'll all have a good story to tell when this is over." Yui remarked, took a sip of her tea, and coughed a little bit as she swallowed something that wasn't tea. This had happened before, where a bit of Mugi's hair ended up in a drink. Yui didn't say anything about it, and was completely unaware to what she had truly swallowed and what it was about to start doing inside her.

Azusa was the first to finish her tea, and felt that her bladder was about to burst without warning. "Oh, I have to go the restroom, like, right now!"

"Take the flashlight then." Mugi handed it over to her. "Want one of us to go with you?"

"Don't care!" She squeaked, got up and practically ran out the door. Azusa was confused; normally she had some degree of warning before she had to go like this. Her loins were assaulted upon with burning pain like she had been holding it in for hours and hours. If she remembered right, she had gone to the little ladies room right before they packed up to leave. One cup of tea shouldn't have done this to her.

The twin tailed girl burst into the top floor bathroom, and turned on the flashlight. She ran into the closest stall to do her business as quickly as she could. It was too quiet as she relieved herself, like all of the sounds of the heating had just stopped. She became worried with some degree of embarrassment that her friends would be able to hear the splashing of the water in the toilet across the building. It echoed in the bathroom enough as it was.

She flinched in surprise as the door opened and closed. Azusa stopped peeing mid stream, and felt her heart racing for some reason. That noise had really given her a scare, and she found herself gripping the little bars on each side of the stall. She heard foot steps, quiet ones, too quiet for someone wearing school shoes. Even worse, she heard the faint noises of a girl crying.

"M-Mio-senpai, is that you?" She asked in a trembling voice. The sobbing had immediately made her think of the bassist. There was no answer, and Azusa heard the footsteps getting close to the stall. Terrified, she spoke up, "W-Who's there? I'm part of the l-light music c-club and we can't find a way out of the school. The front doors are locked and we don't have our mobiles. Hello?"

She turned the flash light towards the stall door, seeing if she could catch a glimpse of the person on the other through that small crack in the door. Instead, she saw a bright blue eye of a face pressed against the crack. It definitely wasn't Mugi, she could tell because this person had gray skin that was twisted and warped with burns and scars. The skin looked decayed and rotting. Just from what she could see, it looked like a living corpse of a girl staring at her.

Azusa screamed in utter terror, causing the figure to flee silently out the door. Azusa screamed, and fell off the toilet onto the floor. Staring into the eyes of what looked to be the dead left her a shaking mess, crying, screaming, and soiling herself with what was left in her bladder. She tried to comprehend what she had just seen. The girl had looked dead and buried, but alive again, far too detailed to be a hoax. She cursed this school for having a five centimeter gap in the stall doors that let her see that.

The Light Music Club easily heard her screams, and was there right away. They found Azusa crying on the floor in a puddle of her own steaming urine, panties around her ankle and skirt hiked up. The underclassman began to cry harder as she realized that her senpais were seeing her in such a pathetic state.

Nobody was sure what to do, or really how to react to this situation. Yui stepped forward, crouching kneeling down next to Azusa, and wincing as her left knee's stocking began absorbing the warm liquid around it. She placed a hand on Azusa's shoulder, asking her most gentle voice, "Azu-nyan, tell Yui-senpai what happened."

"T-There was a girl… and she…" Azusa was only able to choke those words out. Just mentioning that dead girl made her think of her staring blue eye. She began to cry again, and lunged forward to hug Yui tight. Yui held her as Ritsu had done to Mio, and eased her to her feet. Thankfully, Azusa's panties had remained dry, even her skirt and part of her blazer were now damp with urine. The smell from her wasn't exactly pleasant, but nobody said a word about it. After only a couple minutes, Azusa's tears ran dry, and she was able to explain just what had happened.

"I was sitting here, and I heard someone walk in. They were barefoot, and pressed their face up to crack on the stall door. I shined the light on her, and saw that she was naked and… and… Oh, God, she looked dead! Her skin was all clammy, gray, and covered with bruises and scars like some kind of zombie!"

Mio let out a fearful moan and wasted no time clinging to Ritsu.

"What do you think it could have been?" Yui asked her. They were now in the foyer of the restroom. Yui was holding her close, despite how she reeked of piss, and was comfortingly stroking her hair.

"I don't know Yui-senpai, I just don't know." She whimpered.

"I know what it is. It's an incentive to find the nearest exit out of here." Ritsu grumbled.

"I agree with Ricchan." Mugi said as well.

Azusa gently pushed away from Yui, and wiped the remnants of tears from her eyes. "L-Let's get going then. There's a back door down stairs, and then a way out through the kitchen if I remember right."

"Sooner we get out of here, the better." Ritsu was already walking to the door. Her voice was nearly a growl. Truthfully, she didn't believe a word of Azusa's story. She believed the girl had just jumped at a shadow or noise, fell of the toilet, and lied to cover her embarrassment. While Ritsu wanted to confront her on this, she didn't feel like right now was a good time to spark an argument. Azusa was trembling a lot though, making Ritsu wonder if she believed her own lie.

As they stepped out, she casually suggested, "What if this school is haunted or something?"

Everyone stopped walking. It dawned on them that everything that had happened so far could be explained by a haunting, especially if Azusa's story was true. Mugi was almost inclined to believe that, and was almost a little excited at the idea. Yui didn't know what to believe, and Mio refused to believe that. Azusa, on the other hand, _did_ think that place was haunted after what she had just seen.

"Let's hope the spirits aren't vengeful if it is." The twin tailed girl muttered, feeling her heart sink. She was now feeling just as scared as Mio. She just wanted to go home and take a bath and forget anything that she saw that night.

Their next destination was the kitchen on the ground floor. They knew for a fact that there was a back door that would take them outside. Plus, chances were there was even a loading dock they could use to exit as well. Mugi lead the way with the flashlight, and for some reason it felt like the stairs were steeper, narrower, and much higher than normal. More than once Ritsu found herself nearly tripping as she tried to descend quickly. Nobody said anything, for Mio's sake. Any suggestion or ideas about their situation would just terrify her more, and Yui felt this really wasn't the time to say anything silly to lift the mood.

They descended all three flights of stairs to the ground floor then… wait, _three_ flights of stairs?

"Am I going crazy, I could have sworn we just went down three floors instead of one?" Azusa was the one to point this out.

"Then we would be in the basement but…" Ritsu looked around. "…This is the ground floor, and these stairs don't even go to… do we even have a basement in this school?"

"Wait, Mugi-chan, come with me." Yui grabbed the keyboardist, taking her up the stairs with her; taking the flashlight along too.

Ritsu wasn't happy about that, since they were left in total darkness. "Yui, Mugi, get back here! Don't leave us alone in the dark. God damned it; we can't see a thing down here!"

Ritsu held Mio tight in the pitch blackness, and Azusa moved towards her, saying, "Okay, let's just wait here for a moment, Mugi-senpai and Yui-senpai are just counting the stairs again."

"Azusa is right, let's just wait here a moment." Mio said from beside Azusa, sounding awfully calm.

"Mio?" Ritsu gasped.

"What is it?" The bassist asked in the dark, her voice coming from near Azusa.

The drummer let out a yelp of surprise and immediately let go of whoever she was holding. Mio and Azusa were a meter or two away from her, Mugi and Yui had gone upstairs then… who was she holding?

"Ritsu-senpai, what is it?" Azusa quickly asked her.

"Mio, when did you get over there?" Ritsu was shaking all over now.

"Right after they left. I felt like I needed to be brave and didn't need you to hold me anymore." Mio answered, sounding confused as Ritsu's question. "If you want to keep holding me, you can if you want."

"I thought I was holding you just now though." Ritsu said, now very scared. "Who, who was I holding? This isn't funny; someone is down here with us!"

"Yui-senpai, Mugi-senpai, get down here!" Azusa called up the stairs. "We need the light _right_ now!"

Mio quickly grabbed onto Azusa, too afraid to say anything. Ritsu stepped towards them, but couldn't find them, even if she felt like she should have known exactly where they were. Mugi and Yui returned right away with the light.

"We counted only two flights, but someone turned the sink in the clubroom on." Mugi informed them. Yui was still walking down the stairs behind her, clutching her stomach which had begun to take on an ache. It kept rumbling like she was sick, but she didn't feel any nausea. Mugi shined the light on them, and saw Ritsu over by the far wall, Azusa near the stairs, and Mio between them.

"Mio…senpai…?" Azusa exhaled, color draining from her face. Mio had been right there, hanging on to her but instead she was pretty much crouched on the ground in a state of panic. There was no way she could have let go of Azusa and get there in such little time. "You were… you were…"

Ritsu shuttered, "Oh god, it happened to you two. Okay, new rule, the light needs to be on the five of us at all times. Azusa and I are getting touched by people who are… where could they have gone?"

"G-Guys, I really want to go home…" Yui whimpered, clutching her stomach still. "I don't like this prank any more, I'm feeling sick."

She shuttered as she felt like something under skin was crawling. Literally slithering around beneath the skin of her forearm. She shook her head, just telling herself that it was stress causing those kinds of feelings.

Mugi, who had experienced nothing supernatural or strange herself so far, remained optimistic. "Okay everyone, follow me, let's find the way out!"

The other four followed her as she lead the way to the school's small little café. They pushed behind the counter and display, but then noticed something rather unnerving. There was a chalkboard set up on an easel that was used during the day to advertise specials and sales. Written upon it, as the special for that day, was the name _Nakano Azusa_.

"It's just the people here trying to scare us." Ritsu shrugged. "Don't let it get to you, Azusa. I will give these people some credit, they're doing a spectacular job creeping the hell out of us."

"I wonder how they manage to get around without making any noise at all while coordinating this all." Mugi wondered aloud. "Maybe they'll teach me their secrets."

Azusa didn't say anything, but felt like something very bad was going to happen to her if they stayed much longer. She was fully convinced the school was haunted, and wished Mio was gone so she could express her fears without inciting a panic attack. She crept on silently with the rest, pushing past the café and into the kitchen behind.

"What the…" Mugi was the first to react when she shined the light around the room. The metal cupboards and table seemed to be covered entirely with both mildew and rust. It looked like the kitchen had been abandoned for a century. At the far side of the room was a door leading out back, but it didn't look exactly inviting. The door was made of iron, rusted, covered with studs, with symbols drawn in red that none of them recognized.

"M-Maybe this is a class's haunted house." Mugi suggested. She stepped forward, and felt a linoleum tile crack beneath her feet. The tiles across the room were broken, scattered, with sickly yellow grass growing from them.

"I don't like this…" Azusa groaned, stepping cautiously behind Mugi. Ritsu and Mio were next. None of them like crossing this room. A cupboard opened across the room, with pots and pans spilling out on the ground beneath. Inside the cupboard, small forms of rats or some large insects scurried out of sight. The sound made from the falling kitchenware rang out in the room with deafening volume. A scream of surprise from Mio, and a series of shouts concluded that little event.

"This is too much." Ritsu panted, heart still pounding. "Whoever is doing this is going to get a fist to the face from Mugi."

"Don't make Mugi-senpai your hitman." Azusa grumbled, shaking as well.

"I've never been a hitman." Mugi giggled. Her upbeat attitude was brought upon by her disbelief that this was anything other than an elaborate prank. Part of her did consider that it was something supernatural, but her logical mind dismissed that.

Before anyone could say anything else, Yui shoved past them and sprinted headlong to the sink near where the pans had fallen. She vomited heavily, liberally spraying the sink with foul smelling liquid that burned her throat and made her eyes water with tears. It was a small miracle to the conscious that the sink was too dark to see what was amidst her expelled stomach contents. Crawling amongst the dark colored liquid were tiny wormlike creatures that twisted and squirmed in the dark, invisible to Yui's sight.

"Owee…" She groaned, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve. She spat the remnants of bile from her mouth into the sink, which included a few of those tiny worms. Yui had no idea what they were, and assumed they were just parts of her vomit; undigested food. She could have sworn they moved in her mouth just a little, but that was impossible.

"Oh god, Yui-senpai, are you alright?" Azusa was quickly at her side.

"No…" Yui groaned again. "I hurt."

Ritsu sighed, "Well, this is going great. Mio is paralyzed by fear, and Yui is sick to her stomach. I wonder what kind of fun we'll have next."

Mugi was stepping towards the door, determined to just get this over with. "Come on, I'll get this open and we'll all be home in our nice warm homes with our parents within the hour."

She turned the knob, and felt it scrape and creak as rust ground against rust. The door was stuck, but Mugi was determined to get it open. She braced against it with her shoulder and pushed as hard as she could. It took a couple of seconds, and a few strong shoves, but she managed to push it open with a loud, ear piercing scrape. Beyond the door, she could only see concrete ground, and nothing beyond a few meters. This didn't look like the back of the school at night. It looked like a pitch black room the size of the gymnasium with a concrete floor.

"Uhh…" She blinked. Had they been wrong? Did the backdoor from the kitchen lead elsewhere?

"This doesn't look like it goes outside." Azusa pointed out the obvious.

Ritsu was with them as well, dragging Mio with her. She looked into the darkness and squinted her eyes. "Is it like, really, really cloudy out or something?"

"There are houses and stuff behind the school; we should be able to see their lights." Mugi replied.

"This is probably just a storage room then, we should check it out." Azusa decided. "Here, come on Yui-senpai."

She had to work as a crutch for Yui, who was having trouble walking now due to her illness. The older guitarist was silently terrified, because she kept feeling things slithering just beneath her skin all over the place. She prayed she had a fever and was just delirious. The problem was, she had no headache, and it was just her stomach that hurt like she had been force fed broken glass. She had no idea what kinds of things were violently carving their way through her intestines.

Slowly, very slowly, the five of them shuffled into this 'warehouse' beyond that creepy looking door. Azusa and Yui were the last ones through, and it immediately shut behind them with an awful grinding noise followed by a deafening that slam that made them all jump.

"Is there a light switch anywhere?" Ritsu asked.

Mugi turned around to look on the wall behind them, but realized there was going to be a bit of a problem. In place of wood, drywall, or even bricks that should have been there, there was only a strange canvaslike material stretched over the wall. It was stained a sickly brown, and was sectioned like the cushioning of a solitary confinement cell. The stuff glistened with moisture and reeked of mildew.

"Huh." Ritsu blinked. "Good to know we made a wrong turn and wound up in hell."

Mio whimpered in her arms at that.

Azusa sighed, "Can we agree that this is beyond a prank now, and that something _is_ happening to us? Something that is either supernatural or paranormal?"

Mugi looked at the abnormal wall and scratched her chin, "They stretched canvas soaked in coffee over the wall to scare us. I'm starting to get impressed, and I _really_ need to learn these people's secrets!"

"Mugi, that's a little…" Ritsu gave a hopeless sigh, wishing she had Mugi's optimism. "Where do we go now though? Should we just head for the other side and hope for a way out?"

"I'll lead the way!" Mugi happily offered. Above them, lights began flickering on. They hung down from solitary bulbs that were dirty and unchecked. Now that there was some dim, yellowish light, the room looked more and more like a factory warehouse. The lights maybe doubled the illumination of Mugi's flashlight, with vision hampered by a thick fog all around them.

"Fog, indoors? Doesn't smell like smoke." Ritsu said in near disbelief.

"Why do I get the feeling we're not supposed to be here?" Azusa asked aloud. "In fact, I don't think anyone is supposed to be here. We should have stayed in the clubroom and waited for someone to come and find us. I'd rather be in trouble for staying late than wandering around in this creepy place."

"Well, hindsight is twenty-twenty." Ritsu shot back at her. "No use complaining about it, let's just find the damned way out and laugh about it later."

"Yeah, I guess you- _look!_" Azusa shouted and pointed to their left as they were crossing the room. In that direction, the fog was replaced by blackness, but in that blackness were two blue eyes staring back at them.

"Oh, another person!" Mugi happily exclaimed, and shined the light in their direction. "Are you the one trying to scare us? You're doing a very good job!"

Curiously, the flashlight did nothing to depart the tangible darkness around those blue eyes. Azusa felt her heartbeat racing as she looked into the eyes of the thing had scared her earlier. Those were the exact same eyes as before. There was no reply to Mugi's enthusiastic greeting.

"Hello?" Mugi tilted her head in confusion, unused to people just ignoring her like that. "Is it that you're lost too? If so, you should come with us, because we have a flashlight, and Ricchan!"

Ricchan raised an eyebrow at being used as a selling point. From the blackness outstretched a hand, a gray one, marred with scars, burns, and cracked fingernails. It pointed towards one of them; Azusa.

"M-Me?" Azusa pointed at herself as well.

The hand turned from a pointing finger to an outstretched, welcoming gesture. It was beckoning Azusa forward. The twin-tailed girl was firmly rooted to that concrete spot, with no intentions of moving. Shaking with fear, she asked this shadowy person, "You want me to come to you, why?"

From beside her, Yui coughed roughly, and then groaned out, "Don't… go, Azu-nyan. This is bad…"

As soon as Yui said that, screaming wind blew through the room, leaving the five of them checked against it. The temperature dropped to near freezing levels instantly, and what was worse, the darkness was creeping towards them like some kind of sentient, amorphous mass.

"What… what do we do?" Azusa whimpered, taking a step back with Yui.

Mugi actually began _stepping towards_ this thing, happily saying, "I'm extremely impressed by all of this, you have to tell me what you're doing to create this effect. I want to make the best haunted house _ever_ for next year."

Ritsu grabbed her by the collar and yanked her back. "No, Mugi, this could be dangerous! In fact, how about we not take any chances, let's _move_!"

The drummer instantly began running towards the direction they originally were heading. Azusa was right behind her, with Yui doing a good job keeping pace. It took a moment for Mugi to register that maybe her friends were right, and maybe an amorphous darkness wasn't something that appeared in haunted houses, and decided to run with them. She was having a lot of fun though.

It was Azusa who realized that they forgot something. Mio.

"Wait, _Mio!_" She screamed, and turned around to grab their petrified bassist. Mio was stuck to the ground, too afraid to even move. She was crouched down, hands over her ears, eyes shut, crying. While it was certainly frustrating to see her break down, none of them would consider leaving her. Azusa grabbed onto her, and found that Mugi was right behind her. She pretty much shoved Mio into Mugi's waiting arms, and then turned to run away with them.

Azusa managed one step before she felt something icy cold envelop her shoulders, and grasping hands clawing at her school uniform from behind. There was more than just one pair too.

"_H-Help! Help me!"_ She screamed, frantically trying to run away. Those hidden hands kept their grip on her, and that darkness began spilling over her like some kind of cold jelly. Ritsu and Yui were quickly trying to yank her out by her arms. The blackness enveloped more and more of her, trying to pull her in.

"God damned, let her go!" Ritsu grunted, pulling with all her strength. She was beginning to realize this was a losing battle. "Yui, help me pull on her hand, I think we'll be able to get her out if we join our strength like this!"

"R-Right!" Yui was too light headed and too much in pain to really register what was going on. All she could really focus on was the pain all under skin and stomach. The two of them grabbed onto screaming Azusa's left arm. Ritsu wished Mugi would step in and help, since she probably could have yanked Azusa out with one good tug. The drummer felt tears of frustration run down her face as the horrible chilling darkness covered more and more of Azusa at a rapid pace. Soon, her face disappeared, leaving just the arm they were pulling exposed.

"_NO!_" Ritsu screamed, and the two of them gave a final tug. They were rewarded with the nauseating sound of flesh ripping and bone snapping and the darkness retracting like a wave at the beach. It disappeared, and Ritsu and Yui fell backwards from the force of their final tug. In their hands was Azusa's severed arm, cut midway between the wrist and elbow. Part of the bone was visible, sticking out, a red color, looking like it had been broken violently. Blood quickly poured over the soft white skin of Azusa's arm.

"Oh god… oh god…" Ritsu shuffled back away from the severed limb. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening!"

Mugi stepped next to her and helped Ritsu up to her feet. Yui was still just sitting there, Azusa's arm in her lap, a dazed, completely lost expression on her face. Ritsu was shaking all over, and looked down at the blood staining her blouse. This couldn't be real; this had to have been some kind of extremely lucid nightmare.

"It looks like Azusa-chan was in on this joke too." Mugi commented.

Ritsu lost it. That was too much. She retracted her arm then punched Mugi straight in the nose as hard as she could. Of course she felt bad about doing it, but Mugi needed to realize this wasn't just a game now. Azusa had probably just been _killed_.

"W-Wha?" Mugi stammered, holding her wounded nose. It wasn't bleeding, and the punch hadn't had even sent her falling back at all.

Ritsu grabbed onto her shoulders, shouting into her face, "Wake up, Mugi, this isn't a prank anymore! Something is trying to hurt us and turning the school into this! So help us find a way out and acknowledge that we're in danger. Azusa could be hurt or dead right now for all we know!"

"T-Then maybe we should go after her… please don't yell at me." Mugi whimpered, and crouched down to secure Mio again in her arms.

"I don't know, we didn't stand a chance against that thing before." Ritsu sighed, trying her hardest not to just break down and act like Mio. "What do you think, Yui?"

Yui lay on her back, and grumbled, "I don't know Ui, any cake is good cake…"

Ritsu flinched when she saw that Yui had a slight nosebleed. She stepped over and pulled the addled airhead to her feet. "Okay, Yui needs bed rest or something. Maybe our first priority should be helping her."

"What about Azusa-chan though?" Mugi asked again.

Ritsu sighed, "What can we do? God damned it I'm a horrible friend… I'm too scared to even cry for her, or even try to rescue her."

"I'm sure she'd understand." Mugi assured her.

"Let's just… let's just find a way out of here." Ritsu worked as a crutch for Yui like Azusa had. The four of them then left the scene, with Azusa's severed arm still laying there in a pool of sticky red blood. Mio was now completely broken down, catatonic, just occasionally whimpering as Mugi carried her. They reached the other side of the room right away, and found a concrete wall splattered with graffiti drawn in spay paint. If they didn't know any better, it looked like it was in Russian. They headed right from there, following the wall, looking for any kind of exit out of this funhouse from hell. Once silent, the building was now alive with nerve racking noises. Howling wind, creaking walls, the occasional noise that sounded like a distant, inhuman groan calling out for meat.

Thankfully, they found a normal looking door conveniently marked with glowing red, "exit" sign. Ritsu sighed in relief, actually laughing to herself. "Okay, let's just get this stupid thing open and go get help for Azusa."

Since Mugi had her arms full, Ritsu had to use her free arm to yank the door open. A bit to her surprise, it came open with one good tug. Except… it lead to a series of concrete stairs descending into darkness.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Ritsu whined, slamming her head against the door several times. "I want to go _out_, not _down_! Nothing good is down!"

"Why don't we try looking for another exit?" Mugi suggested casually. Even after Ritsu yelling at her, she still wasn't taking this as seriously as Ritsu would have liked. If Ritsu had her way, Yui wouldn't be a sick mess, and Mio wouldn't be a crying wreck. Mugi would have to do for now.

Yui groaned loudly, and weakly tried to shove away from Ritsu. The drummer hung onto her, "Hey, what's up, are you going to puke again."

"Y-Ye…" She choked out, and shoved away from Ritsu again. This time Ritsu let her, and the guitarist weakly fell to her hands and knees. With an awful choking sound she hacked up… well, all of a sudden Ritsu and Mugi wished it were dark again after they saw this. Yui expelled a sizable amount of blood all over the ground in front of her. Not just blood, but hundred of tiny little squirming worms that were producing audible hisses as they thrashed around in her blood.

"What… what is this?" Ritsu exhaled.

Yui fell to her side, clutching her stomach, but no longer moving. Those horrific creatures were crawling around her mouth, nose, and even starting to burst from her around her eyes. Her body twitched once, with blood filling up her open mouth and spilling down her cheeks. More worms within the red liquid as well.

"Oh god, Yui!" Ritsu fell to her side, and quickly checked her pulse at the wrist. There was nothing, and she flinched back with a curt scream of terror when she saw more worms crawling from out of Yui's sleeve. Ritsu scrambled back gasping for air as they hissed at her. "M-Mugi, let's go now, Yui's not coming with us!"

"B-But she-" Mugi tried to say.

"No, Mugi, Yui _isn't coming with us_." She repeated and scrambled to her feet. If only to make things worse, the lights overhead began to flicker off one by one, leaving them in darkness. Mugi turned on the flashlight again, but the beam of light somehow seemed weaker. Ritsu caught a glimpse a pair of blue eyes staring at them far off into the darkness. The glowing red exit sign was still there. Knowing she'd regret it, Ritsu looked towards the stairs leading down into the darkness. "Looks like don't have a choice."

The blue eyes were closer.

"Okay, Mugi, let's just run through there and don't stop. Maybe we can just run right to the real exit or something."

Mugi nodded, "Okay, I'm ready! Will Yui-chan be alright here by herself?"

"Mugi…" Ritsu frowned. Yui's death still hadn't quite clicked with her yet, and the only real emotions that any of them felt were fear and confusion. "Yeah, Yui will be just fine here. T-Time to go."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Below, Above, And Beyond

**AFTERDARK TEA TIME**

_My hopes have been lost, my heart beats so strong  
>I am not dreaming, true is the feeling<br>Counting the time - so alone, expecting the inevitable  
>Shredding my wishes scatter my feelings<br>Beyond the wall of truth I here myself crying  
>Searching for a exit on a foggy side of life<br>I need to find the line, I am forced to touch the sign_

_~Nightmare, _by _Rotting Christ_

**PART 2: BELOW, ABOVE, AND BEYOND**

The stairs didn't just descend to a basement level like Mugi and Ritsu had expected. They went further and further down until the flashlight couldn't even hope to touch the ceiling above with its rays. Neither of them knew what was going on, where they were going, or how to get out of this. All they knew was that Azusa and Yui were gone, and that last room certainly wasn't safe. Ritsu was behind Mugi and Mio, and was using all her willpower not to cry. The original plan had been to run, but running down an endless flight of concrete stairs seemed like a recipe for a broken spine.

Ritsu couldn't get over it though, Azusa and Yui, _her friends_, were dead. She felt awful that she didn't feel worse. The two of them dying like that was just so surreal she had trouble accepting it had even happened. Now she was wondering why they even left the school. Getting randomly hugged by shadows seemed a lot better than watching your friend get eaten from the inside out by worms, in hindsight. That image of Yui dying set Ritsu's gag reflex off, and made her stomach do a flip. She began imaging happy things to block that picture out.

Eventually they made it to the bottom of the stairs, which lead to what looked like a service tunnel for somewhere like a mall. Rusty pipes were traced along the walls and ceiling, dripping everywhere and leaving sporadic murky puddles that varied in depth. There were more light bulbs overhead, providing enough light for Mugi to spare the flashlight.

"Is this… the basement?" Mugi asked, splashing through a puddle and getting her socks wet.

"Can't be, we're probably half a kilometer underground." Ritsu answered. "How're you holding up Mugi? I can take Mio if you want."

"It's okay, I think she fell asleep." Mugi pleasantly replied, more pleasantly than Ritsu would have liked. "She looks so cute right now."

"I guess you have to appreciate the little things." The drummer shrugged. They immediately ran into a problem, though. They ran into a four way intersection. "Well… this looks problematic."

"I know how these kinds of places work!" Mugi boasted, her voice echoing off the wall of the narrow tunnels. "You just keep going left and you find the exit."

Ritsu looked left, and saw a humanoid form pass through the darkness some five meters away in that direction. She gulped, "Actually, let's go right instead. I don't think we're alone down here."

"Should we run?" Mugi asked.

"Only if things start getting hectic." Ritsu replied. In the distance, down the left passage, they heard what sounded like an animal moaning. It sounded something like a pig or boar, but more unnatural. The cry echoed off the walls like Mugi's voice had, making the ground vibrate ever so slightly. "Yeah, be prepared to run if we hear anything moving towards us."

Mugi nodded and they began their exploration of the underground tunnels. The right passage didn't branch off into other directions like the left one appeared to. Instead, it occasionally twisted and turned, quickly making the two of them lose all sense of direction. Ritsu felt envious of Mio, who was apparently sleeping her way through all of this. They went a little further, and the passage descended some twenty centimeters into water. It went up to their shins, and was icy cold. Above, there were only a third as many lights guiding the way, and the water was nearly pitch black.

"Maybe we should try another way…" Ritsu frowned.

"We've been walking for almost ten minutes, is water so bad?" Mugi didn't seem to like the idea of backtracking.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Ritsu scratched her head. "Maybe this will actually lead somewhere."

The two of them sloshed through the water quite loudly. Mugi was considering using the flashlight again, being that they could only see a few meters ahead in the dark, but decided against it since it was hard to operate it while holding Mio. This branch of the journey just went in one direction instead of making all sorts of turns like before. While neither of them could be sure, chances were they were far beyond what constituted as school grounds.

"So, Mugi… I guess… I guess this is the end of the Light Music Club, huh? Being out two guitarist and all. We're right back at the beginning." Ritsu had no idea why she was saying this. She just felt like they needed to say something to drown out the plethora of horrible noises in the background.

"I guess so…" Mugi sighed, mournful yet strong. "Maybe this is all some sort of dream, or maybe if we make it out, everything will undo itself. That's what I'm hoping anyway."

"That'd be great, wouldn't it? Just… god damned it I'm so scared right now Mugi. I hate how we're sloshing off into the unknown and acting like we know where we're going. I hate not having a plan or direction."

"We weren't really presented with a lot of options." Mugi reminded her. "At least you're with me. That makes me feel a lot better."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, kind of. Glad to see you're holding up well though. I'm still trying to figure out why this is even happening to us. Did one of us disturb some ancient temple nearby, or steal a relic? That's the kind of stuff that starts this in movies and video games."

"I've never stolen anything in my life, so it certainly wasn't me."

"Yeah, Yui and Azusa don't come off as thieves either. So it's probably not that, but, maybe we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Maybe this school is like this every year around this time, and we were just unlucky."

"When we get out, we'll have to make sure it never happens to anyone else."

Ritsu was going to say something, but noticed something rather disturbing. The two of them seemed to be making far too much noise in the water. She stopped moving, Mugi did the same, but the sloshing continued for a brief moment.

"Is something wrong?" Mugi looked back and asked her.

"I think… I think something's in the water with us." Ritsu whispered. "Keep walking for a moment, then stop.

Mugi did so, marching forward for a few second then stopping. Sure enough, the sound of someone moving through the water continued behind them. Ritsu slowly turned around, and saw water ripping outwards a few meters behind them. Nothing was there, but it sure looked like something had been tailing them, trying to match its footsteps with their own. Ritsu stared at that spot in the water for a moment longer, then saw the black liquid stir slightly, like something was trying to move forward slowly without moving its feet.

"M-Mugi…" She exhaled.

"Yes, Ricchan?" For the first time so far, Mugi sounded worried.

"_Run_."

Without a second though, the keyboardist held Mio tight and began running forward as fast as she could. Ritsu was right behind her, and the loud splashing of something behind followed. The drummer nearly wet herself when she heard heavy, animalistic breathing down her neck. Above, the lights began to burn out one by one as they passed underneath. It wasn't just some invisible monster chasing them through the water, but the very darkness itself. At their feet, the water turned from a dark brown, nearly black, to a rusty crimson color, like blood. Running some fifty meter with that thing hot on their tails, the water ended and they were running on concrete again. The passage looked more dilapidated, like the kitchen they had passed earlier. The walls were stained with mildew, mold, and the pipes were rusted to the point of complete uselessness.

Their sides burned and their legs hurt from sprinting such a long distance in such a short time. There was no time for rest though. Behind them, the sound of heavy hooves clicking against the concrete was following. With it was the occasional animalistic grunt or snort. The lights were fewer and further between, leaving the two in near pitch blackness. Any details of this passage were pretty much invisible in dim light. All Ritsu and Mugi could tell was that the walls were covered with that same brown canvas stuff from before.

But ahead was some sort of light of salvation, faint fluorescent lights lit up the wooden stairs of the school. The stairs looked exactly like the ones from Sakuragaoka, and this prompted the two girls to muster the last of their strength and energy into a headlong sprint to the stairs. Ritsu, still behind Mugi, began to feel a sense of hopelessness as she felt hot breath of some kind of unearthly animal breath against her back. She could _smell _it, and it positively reeked of carrion like sunbaked roadkill.

Just as they reached the stairs, Ritsu heard teeth snap right behind her, and that awful breath right on her neck. As soon as her feet hit the first wooden step, the sound of that animal chasing them ceased. The drummer had no more energy from running; she collapsed against the stairs and looked back in dread to see what w-

Behind her was the first floor of the school in the dark, like it had been before they reached the kitchen. Her eyes went wide with both relief and terror. It was if those agonizing minutes of running from spiritual monster had never happened. Every breath burned, her sides were on fire, and her legs ached.

"What... what…" She desperately tried to make sense of this while panting out that same word over and over.

Mugi sat at the top of the first set of stairs, laying Mio down next to her gently. She was covered in sweat, just like Ritsu, with her face red, and her breathing ragged. Mugi wiped some of the sweat off her brow, and then sighed, "L-Looks like we made it, huh, Ricchan?"

"New rule, let's stay in the school from now on. That was too close…"

"How will we get home then?" Mugi asked the obvious question.

"I don't know… let's just find a nice, safe place then stay there the rest of the night. No more exploring, nothing good comes out of it."

"Do you think the clubroom is safe?"

"I don't know, I'd rather try somewhere with fewer ways in, like the roof." Ritsu suggested. "Maybe someone could see us from up there too."

"That certainly would be good. Let's try that."

"Yeah, just… let me catch my breath for a little while."

Ritsu crawled up the stairs to sit with Mugi. The keyboardist immediately grabbed her and hugged her tight. "I'm not letting go of you, Ricchan." She said, "I'm not letting anything happen to you."

"T-Thanks, Mugi." Ritsu found herself blushing.

For the next half hour, the two of them sat there in silence. Even when they were ready to go within minutes, neither of them had the courage to stand up make the journey upstairs quite yet. The school was alive with sounds that kept the firmly afraid to go anywhere. Footsteps, the occasional moan or whimper from upstairs, faint clicking and creaking noises. Every noise, to them, was just another trap or attempt to lure them somewhere dangerous. But, just sitting there would get nothing accomplished. Ritsu stood up, and Mugi followed, picking up Mio again.

"Ready?" Ritsu asked.

"Mhm." Mugi nodded.

"Let me take the flashlight this time."

Mugi handed it over, and they began walking up the roof. They only got a few glimpses of the halls from the stairs, but saw how much they had changed. Desks and chairs lay strewn about in the hallways, with broken glass spread across the floor. Torn school uniforms were stuck to the walls with nails like banners celebrating unholy victory over all things natural and right in the world. Ritsu was even more jealous of Mio now for being asleep. From the classrooms they could hear faint whispers and voices, none of them in Japanese, or at least any dialect they knew. The voices sounded closer to Latin than anything else.

Despite the haunting atmosphere of the changed school, the trip up top was happily uneventful. The air outside was chilly, but not unnaturally chilly. The sky was solid black, no stars; the darkness limited visibility beyond the school entirely. From up there, the school looked like a standing island amidst a sea of total blackness.

"So much for anyone finding us…" Ritsu grumbled. "At least we should be safe, and… oh who am I kidding? We're probably as safe here as anywhere else."

Mugi set Mio down again, laying her gently onto the concrete below. She sat down next to her, cross legged. "Hmm, I can't hear all those noises from inside up here. That's a good thing."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Hmm, I wonder what time it is right now."

"Probably around seven or eight, but I don't think that matters here." Mugi answered. "Ricchan, are you afraid that we'll die?"

"Of course I am!" Ritsu snapped at her. "What kind of question is that?"

"I was just wondering… because…" Mugi began fidgeting slightly. "I've never been kissed on the lips, and we're going to die-"

"Oh shut up, you." Ritsu cut her off before sitting down with her. "Just because I'm afraid we could die doesn't mean I think it'll actually happen. What happened to Yui and Azusa… it was… I just can't see it happening to any of us if we just play it a lot safer from here on out. Don't worry, Mugi, we'll be okay. I think you're very sweet, but I don't really want to kiss you right now."

"Alright, uh, sorry I said anything…" Mugi blushed heavily.

"Don't worry about; we tend to say silly things when we're scared." Ritsu replied. "But hey, look on the bright side; you probably lost a bunch of weight from running earlier."

"You think so?" Mugi immediately smiled.

Ritsu nodded and found herself standing up, "You bet." She assured the keyboardist. It was a futile attempt to lift the deathly atmosphere upon them. The feeling that they were on an island amidst a sea of whirling darkness really did a lot too crush their hopes. The drummer felt strange, like she had this unexplainable urge to step to the edge of the roof. It wasn't just like a normal urge, it felt like a physical urge. Like the urge to eat, sleep, or masturbate. She found herself unable to resist it, and began walking towards the side of the building like she was hypnotized. An obscene thought entered her head:

_Wouldn't the best way to escape this place be to just leap over the edge? Take your own life so you have some dignity in death. Don't give the forces here the satisfaction of taking you!_

Something inside Ritsu made her actually consider this; something that was both malicious and unnatural. Terror filled her as she began to get closer and closer to the edge. Her body was moving on its own with a mind to leap off the edge headfirst. She was mere meters away when Mugi grabbed her from behind.

"Ricchan, what are you doing?" She frantically asked the drummer.

All of a sudden, Ritsu was herself again, with full of control over her actions. She was having trouble controlling her heartbeat after that. "Thank you, Mugi, thank you!" Ritsu quickly said, laughing once to herself. "We need to get off the roof though, something almost made me jump."

They turned around, and both gasped in unison at what stood at the other edge. Mio was awake now, standing with arms outstretched and facing them. She looked like she was about to lean back and plummet down.

"Mio-chan, get down from there!" Mugi shouted, letting go of Ritsu and running towards her.

Mio looked at her with blue eyes that belonged to someone else. Smiling, she said, "If you hurry, you two can make it out in time before things get worse. The front door is open now, the sacrifices have been made."

"_Mio!_" Ritsu screamed. Moments before Mugi could reach her, Mio gracefully leapt off the edge. The two of them crowded together at the edge. They heard Mio's body hit the ground, but couldn't see it in the darkness.

"No…" Ritsu shook her head. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Mio-chan…" Mugi said beneath her breath. Both of them couldn't believe what had just happened. One moment Mio had been laying there napping, then the next she had been _possessed_ and thrown over the edge.

"Mio… no… this can't be happening! Mugi, tell me that didn't just happen!"

"That… di-" Was all Mugi managed to say before she broke off into sobs. She lunged at Ritsu, holding her tight, practically wailing, "Don't leave me, Ricchan! Please, don't leave me like they did!"

"I'm not going anywhere, Mugi." Ritsu said through gritted teeth. Tears were running down her cheek; her hands were shaking; her throat was dry; and her head was pounding. Although it had been said before, this couldn't be real. This was just some awful nightmare, hallucination, _something_. Now again, Ritsu felt that urge to throw herself off the ledge after Mio. Holding onto Mugi, she slowly walked back to the stairs, step by step. "Something is pulling me, making me want to follow Mio. We have to get off this roof."

"But where do we go now?" Mugi asked, still in the middle of crying.

"She said the way out was open, let's go that way." The drummer replied.

"But what if it's another trap?"

"Do _you_ have a better idea?" Ritsu was harsher than she meant to be towards Mugi. She hated to just move on, not saying a damned word about Mio's apparent death but… "I'm sorry Mugi, I'm sorry I'm not saying more about Mio, Yui, and Azusa. I know how I look like I didn't care about them, but we need to focus on our own survival first. We'll cry for them together later, okay?"

"O-Okay." Mugi wiped the rest of her tears away. "I'm so sorry about Mio, I know you two were-"

"I said later Mugi; we can't start breaking down now." Ritsu cut her off.

Without another word, they held each others' hands and entered the school again. It was even worse than before they had come up on the roof. The walls were covered in that same brown canvas, but this time is was torn and tattered, sometimes lying in messy piles on the floor. Rusty, broken desks cluttered the hallways of the first and second floor, making getting down to the ground floor more difficult than it should have been. The whispers had grown in cacophonic shouts of madness that forced the two girls to move as quickly as they could. After what felt like an eternity, they made it to the ground floor. Immediately, their hopes making it out unscathed plummeted.

The lights were on, but only cast a dim, red glow over the long hallway out. All the doors to the classrooms were boarded up with nails; many of which had fetish dolls nailed to their fronts as well. From the ceiling hung countless ropes of rusted chain that either ended in manacles or meat hooks. The ground was free of desks, but had tools of butchery scattered amongst bloody bones. The bones, thankfully, appeared to be from cattle and not humans. That didn't stop the whole hallway from stinking like death.

Mugi wretched once, and felt her eyes water. "R-Ricchan, this is…"

"I know, I know, but if what Mio… or whoever was in Mio was right, this is the last leg of our journey. Come on Mugi; be brave for a little while longer!" Ritsu did her best to encourage her last and now best friend.

"O-Okay…I'll do my best…" Mugi stammered. She placed her hands on Ritsu's shoulders and followed her that way. Ritsu held her breath as she pushed past the chains ending in hooks. Both of them kept expecting something to happen, like the chains animating and butchering them. It was difficult to walk while having to avoid chains from overhead, and the countless disturbing objects underneath. Ritsu knew that if she wasn't careful, she'd step on something that put a hole right through her shoe and give her some disease. There were shears, knives, hatches, hooks, and even a few shut bear traps mixed around the scattered bones.

Ritsu flinched as she heard knocking from behind some of the barricaded doors. Knocking and what sounded like someone desperately trying to claw their way out.

"It's just a trick right, those noises I mean?" Mugi whispered to her.

"Yeah, of course, don't fall for it." Ritsu answered her.

"I won't." The keyboardist assured her. "I have another question."

"Shoot."

"Will we still make music after this? I'd really like that, even if it was just the two of us…"

Ritsu put her hand over Mugi's. "Yeah, we'll do that. I promise, even if it's just you and I. We can be called _Hairbands and Eyebrows_, we'll be famous, and sell a million records. In fact, if we make it out of here, I'll even kiss you on the lips."

"That would be…" Mugi didn't really know what to say. Fluffy talk while walking through what looked like a slaughter house just didn't mix. "…let's just get out of here, Ricchan."

"Yeah, we-…_oh my god…_" The words were stolen from her mouth when she saw what awaited them ahead. Maybe five meters between them and the door, which was propped open with a normal looking chair, was one last obstacle.

Azusa. Once the group's cute little kouhai, now a spectacle that sent Ritsu reeling back, nearly screaming. Mugi, on the other hand, screamed loudly and burst into a fit of tears at the sight before them.

Her naked body was suspended in what was a spider web of barbed wire. The serrated coil was wrapped around her one wrist, just past her elbow where her arm had been removed, around her ankles, and around her torso in several places. The wire had left her covered in tiny cuts, each oozing a trickle of dark colored blood. Her throat was cut, with her head hanging limply to the side, and her hair fell freely down her back. It was a small miracle her face couldn't be seen by the two surviving girls. The inside of her thighs were smeared with her own blood, originating from her crotch as it looked like. And in one last attempt to rob Azusa of any dignity she had in death, pretty much every variation of the word 'whore' was scribbled across her body in black ink.

"Who… who would do this?" Ritsu whispered. Her head was spinning, and she would be amazed if she came out of this even remotely sane in the long run. Watching her friends die had been one thing, but to see them crucified with barbed wire was something else.

"We have to help her!" Mugi shouted, shoving past Ritsu.

The drummer grabbed her and pulled her back, "No, Mugi, don't!"

Mugi shoved Ritsu away effortlessly and ran towards Azusa. The blonde looked for a way to get her down right away. The ground was littered with tools, so at least one of them had to help her. Ritsu caught up with her, and realized right away that Azusa wasn't breathing. With all the blood around her wrist, torso, thighs, she could have died from any one of those injuries. The strands of barbed wire around her were attached the floor, walls, and ceiling, and were going to be a pain to get around.

Mugi found a set of shears that looked strong enough to cut the wire. Ritsu put a hand on her wrist, "Mugi… Azusa… we can't help her."

"How can you say that?" Mugi pushed past her again, "She's our friend and I'm happy to get a few cuts from this wire to help her!"

"No, Mugi!" Ritsu pulled her back once more. "Mugi, Azusa's… Azusa's… _she's dead and we can't do anything about it!_"

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was Ritsu's heavy breathing. Mugi's shears dropped, clattering off the ground loudly. She looked up at Ritsu, with heavy tears spilling down her cheeks. "But… Ricchan, I never got to say goodbye."

"Mugi…" Ritsu sighed again, and then grabbed her into a hug. "It's okay," she whispered into her ear, "Azusa knows you cared about her."

"Azusa-chan, Mio-chan, Yui-chan; they're really all gone, aren't they?" Mugi asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"I don't know, Mugi, I hope not."

"No time for tears, like you said. It's hard though, Ricchan, but I'm trying my best not to cry."

"You're doing a good job Mugi, just keep with it awhile longer and then you can cry as much as you want. Like I said, we'll cry together, but we're too close to the end to just give up and become like Mio. Here, let's take those shears and cut a hole against the floor for us to crawl out of."

"Yeah, I'll do that…" Mugi took a deep breath and picked up the shears again. She moved to the bottom right corner, which had next to no Azusa taking up space there. Slowly, the blonde keyboardist began to clip the first wire. There was a lot of resistance, and it took pretty much all of her strength to get it to break. Meanwhile, Azusa's foot was the corner of her eye the whole time. She held her breath through most of it, being that the carrion smell of the room was even more awful when closer to the ground. After several minutes of uneventful clipping, Mugi managed to clear tiny little spot just big enough for the two to escape out of.

There was no time for merriment. Behind them, Ritsu saw some of the clutter on the ground begin to shift just at the edge of the darkness where her vision ended. In the air, the chains began to sway as if something was moving aside.

"Mugi, it's back!" She exclaimed in a loud whisper.

"Okay, then I finished just in time." Mugi breathed a sight of relief. They could now hear heavy footsteps getting closer. The steps were slow, deliberate, but wouldn't take long to reach them. "You first Ricchan."

"I can't do that, you made the hole, you go first." Ritsu argued quickly.

"No, I want you to go." Mugi was stubborn at the worst possible moment.

"We're not arguing this; get your blonde butt on the other side!"

Mugi crossed her arms, "I'm not moving until Ricchan does."

"Mugi…" Ritsu growled, but obliged. The hole in the barbed wire didn't leave a lot of wiggle room. She had to get down on her belly to crawl through it using her elbows mostly. Even then, the points of the wire picked and tore at her blazer from behind. Moving as fast as she could, she made it to the other side in some twenty seconds. "Okay, now come on!"

Mugi followed, but immediately ran into problems right away. While Ritsu's skinny, boyish body allowed for easy access to the other side; Mugi's larger frame and much larger breasts had her stuck in the middle. The barbed wire stuck to her back, just below the shoulders, piercing into her flesh and stopping her from making any progress.

"R-Ricchan, I'm stuck, help!" She pleaded, trying desperately to wiggle forward. Ritsu quickly grabbed the shears from the other side, giving her a few cuts as she did so. She went to cut the wire pinning Mugi down, and saw that the lights the way they had come were going out one by one.

"I can't break it!" Ritsu shouted as she squeezed the shears with all her might. The lights just above them flickered out, and almost immediately Mugi let out a surprised scream in the dark. The back of her blazer tore loudly as something tried pulling her back. Ritsu couldn't see it; she just grabbed Mugi's hand and pulled. If Mugi ended up with a few cuts on her back, she could deal with it. She pulled as hard as she could, determined not to lose Mugi like she had Azusa.

"I'm not letting go Mugi, I'm not letting go!" She screamed. Mugi screams of terror and pain were nearly deafening to Ritsu, and gave her more motivation to pull harder. Whatever had Mugi began trying to drag her back with even more force. Ritsu felt herself losing this tug of war, and grunted once again, "Not… letting… you go!"

As she finished those words, the monstrous force that had her friend made one inhumanly powerful yank. Mugi's hands were pulled out of hers, and the force of the pull sent Ritsu falling face first into the barbed wire. Ignoring the cuts all over her face and hands, she pulled herself away from the strings of razors. In the dark, Mugi was now gone from sight, but her scenes still remained. Ritsu sat there bleeding, and couldn't do anything but listen.

She heard what sounded like something stabbing into flesh over and over, and liquid splattering. Squishy ripping sounds; screaming; something breaking and snapping; more screaming; the sound of something wet smashing against the wall; no more screaming. All she could hear was a faint gurgling sound, and the sliding of something heavy being dragged back through the darkness.

_This is it… they're all dead, all my friends are dead. They're all gone and I couldn't save Mugi or Azusa. I don't deserve to be alive; I'm not the one who should have made it to the end. Mugi should have lived instead of me, her, or Mio or… any of them! They all had so much going for them, and I'm just useless me. Why did I get to live when they all didn't? This isn't fair!_

Whether or not is a blessing or a bane, the lights flickered back on. On the other side, blood was splashed across the floor, mixed with bits of bone and blonde hair. Tattered of flesh hung from the barbed wire just above where they had crawled out. On the wall to Ritsu's left was stain spread outwards, where it looked like Mugi's head had been violently smashed in. A thick trail of blood spread back into the darkness. The sundries littering the floor

Ritsu stood up and ran the other way. Her mind focused on getting home and nothing else. If she focused on what she had just seen, she would go completely insane. She pushed past the previously locked doors like they were made of paper. Outside, it was chilly, windy and looked like a perfectly normal evening. There was nothing abnormal about the school from the outside as she ran across the front lawn. She could see the lights of houses and buildings, and now it looked like the entire evening had just been like any other. Ritsu wanted to feel relieved, but she couldn't, she felt like she was the only person left in the world. She felt like whatever had changed the school was still after her.

She ran around the corner and towards the direction of her house. She tried to think of what she was going to say to her parents, but couldn't even begin to think of how to describe her night. Nobody would believe her, especially if none of her friend's bodies could be found. Ritsu slapped herself on the face as she ran, trying to wake herself from the nightmare. No matter what she did, she couldn't wake up.

The drummer ran around another corner and face first into a passing pedestrian. It looked like some college guy, dressed in jeans and hooded sweater. He had the hood up and was smoking a cigarette.

"Hey, better watch out who you run into, strangers can be dangerous." He joked, and then nodded towards a parked car across the street. Ritsu realized that this street was particularly dark, had no streetlights, and all the houses looked like they were dead somehow.

"S-Sorry, my bad." She shivered, and tried to run past this man.

He grabbed her by the wrist before she could get anywhere. "Hey, where are you off to so fast?"

"I need to get home, let me go!" Ritsu growled, trying to push away from the stranger. It was futile; he had at least twenty kilos on her, even if he was only a little taller. Two other men exited the car from across the street, wearing dark clothes that obscured their features.

"Fancy a ride?" The first man chuckled, yanking Ritsu towards the two others.

"Let me go, I need to get home, my friends are in trouble." She frantically shouted. The two others grabbed her arms, stopping her from elbowing or squirming. That didn't stop her from kicking and shouting, "Seriously, they could be-"

A hand was placed over her mouth, and she felt something pointed press against her back.

"If you don't behave and come with us, _you're_ going to be in trouble." One of the two other men whispered in her ear. Gagged and a knifepoint, Ritsu was dragged through dark towards their sedan with tinted windows.

From one man to another, "Call the boss and said we got a highschooler. She's a scrapper, so make sure he has the right preparations made. I think he'll be happy though, you know how the fighters are always the best in bed."

**THE END**

**_Author's Notes and Junk: _**_Basically I spent half a year coming up with various plots for horror stories for K-On! I've scrapped nearly half a dozen and it wasn't until three days before Halloween that I decided I REALLY needed to write one for the holiday. I spent those days writing it more or less constantly and finished it at around 3:00 AM Halloween morning. My goal was to create the single most upsetting story I could within the genres of supernatural and horror. Hopefully I succeeded. What did you guys think?_


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